Deputy prosecutor Stephen Penner on Monday reminded a Pierce County jury it was nearly a year ago that a gunman shot four Lakewood police officers to death – an occasion he said was of a kind where people remembered where they were when they heard the news.

Penner reminded jurors of the fear that permeated the community as the shooter, Maurice Clemmons, remained on the loose for more than 40 hours after the shooting before being killed by a Seattle police officer.

He also reminded them that many people were in disbelief when they learned someone was helping Clemmons as he fled an army of law enforcement officers intent on tracking him down.

“We all wondered who would help this guy?” Penner said during his opening statement in the trial of four associates and relatives accused of aiding Clemmons in the aftermath of the massacre inside the Parkland Forza coffee shop.

Attorneys for Hinton and Douglas Davis said during their opening statements that it’s wrong to portray their clients as cop haters who intended to delay Clemmons’ capture.

Hinton is accused of providing keys to a car used to carry Clemmons out of Tacoma after the shooting, deleting calls from Clemmons from his cell phone and lying to police.

Douglas Davis is accused of helping to drive Clemmons out of Tacoma and providing other aid.

Hinton’s attorney, Philip Thornton, told jurors his client loved Clemmons but had become concerned about his mental health in the months before the massacre and wanted nothing to do with him when he came home the morning of Nov. 29 claiming to have been shot.

Clemmons had developed delusions of grandeur and been in and out of jail before the shooting, Thornton said.

“He wanted people to call him Jesus,” the defense attorney said.

Hinton provided keys to a car but didn’t know Clemmons had killed anybody when he did so, Thornton said.

Thornton also told jurors his client admits having his grandson delete information regarding Clemmons from his cell phone, but his intent was not to destroy potential evidence.

He did so, Thornton said, because he didn’t want to be able to call Clemmons any more after that morning. He sensed his brother was in trouble and didn’t want to get dragged into it, said the defense attorney, adding that Hinton had not memorized Clemmons’ phone number.

“It’s not enough to help a criminal,” Thornton said. “You have to do it with the intent to delay, hinder the apprehension of a person you know has committed a Class A felony: murder.